Anyone born after 1960 may find this hard to believe, but there was a time when hardtops like the 1950-1952 Pontiac Catalina were quite exotic. That time, of course, harks back to 1949, when General Motors pioneered the pillarless idea with a trio of low-volume “hardtop convertibles.” “Catalina” was a name used to identify the hardtop body style. The first Catalinas stand as elegant symbols of Pontiac’s postwar turn from “super Chevy” to a more luxurious car with its own identity. In time, that trend would prove as profitable as hardtops and automatics.
